Judicious Coaching
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By Forrest Gathercoal, Paul Gathercoal, Beverly Reilly Bryde, & Nan Verkaik

This book is written primarily for coaches working with student-athletes who play team sports. A student-athlete is one who has both academic and athletic responsibilities. It is important for coaches to realize that student-athlete's need to balance both academic and athletic endeavors. A common assumption underlying the principles presented in this book is that student-athletes serve two masters. First and foremost student-athletes are learners and they must establish academics as their first priority. Secondly, student-athletes are involved in performance and athletic competition. They must attend practices and scheduled events, which can mean lost study time and class absences. Consequently, student-athletes are burdened with athletic demands as well as the heavy demands of a full-time academic schedule. This book will provide coaches with ideas and strategies for helping student-athletes to balance the demands of both academics and athletics.

The ideas and strategies set forth in this book are designed to help create a relationship of trust and care between coaches and student/athletes. This book can help coaches to empower student-athletes with the responsibility and confidence to become accountable for their own learning and performance. When student-athletes take responsibility for their behavior and learning goals, team play takes on new meaning for them and they are far more likely to experience intrinsic feelings of enjoyment and self-worth. As a result, student/athletes' performances on and off the sporting field will be enhanced and improved.

The authors provide a framework for coaches to share their knowledge and authority with student-athletes. The power shared leads to student-athletes who are empowered with knowledge, skills and dispositions that lead to healthier team play and self-control.

This book is divided into two parts. The first part discusses the philosophy and framework of Judicious Coaching. The second part provides detailed plans for team meetings and elucidates current thinking regarding brain research and applies it to the coaching situation. Further resources and websites complementary to this approach are listed in the back of this book.